There was a great thread on the old boards about different sure-to-convert-the-skeptical green smoothie recipes, which I ignored at the time thinking "kale in my fruit, gross". However, after a few months of too much gluten and sugar, I want a change. Does anyone still have that post archived? Otherwise, can this be a place to share favourite combinations of fruits/greens/other goodies (flax, oats, what are other good additions?)

Also, does an immersion blender work well for smoothies? Any troubleshooting techniques?

I would recommend starting out slow and gradually increasing the veggie-to-fruit ratio (at least I needed to, but now I toss in all sorts of veggies). Here's some good recipes: http://www.rawfamily.com/recipes. I have the app, too, and like it. I'm no help on the blenders, I have a Vitamix and have no idea how others would handle kale.

I started with baby spinach, but I prefer kale, but it is hard to get kale blended in well w/o a vitamix, I think.

Anyway, basic green smoothie - start with 1 cup water, 1 banana, 1 kale leaf, 1 cup some other kind of fruit. I like berries, but if you're using kale I find that kale goes well with pineapple too. You can also sub the water with milk or juice.

ALSO, some people like them thicker and I've realized I like them thinner so they're more like juice, so play with consistency.

_________________"T-shirts are not allowed in heaven, Karyn. They don't do casual Fridays." - Amandabear

Try some swiss chard too as an alternative to the spinach--smaller greens/stems if you can get them. I've been making green smoothies with chard and kale from the garden and I'm really loving the fresh clean taste!

I used to put kale in my smoothies (been using baby spinach now), and while I was fine with the graininess, it wasn't usually something I'd give to other people. My question is, do you guys leave the stem on the kale or cut the leaves off? I used to put the whole damn leaf in it, but now I wonder if people just use the leaf.

I like chard in my smoothies...it also seems to blend better with my immersion blender! But, if you're okay really working your immersion blender kale will blend up okay...but you'll definitely have some fiber to chew on. If I'm putting greens in my smoothie I usually rinse the leaves, rip the stems out and fold them up at the bottom of whatever I'm blending in with a banana on top, frozen fruit on top of that and then almond butter and juice. Having the hard stuff on top seems to make using the immersion blender to make smoothies work better, but you need to be able to push down and totally submerge it so you don't make a mess. My boyfriend swears that kale/banana/blueberry smoothies with almond milk taste like chocolate milkshakes. So you could try that on for size?

i have a green smoothie or juice every day, but don't like them with kale or spinach. i put a whole bunch of parsley or cilantro in, and it's great. typical smoothie for me is juice of 5 oranges, two bananas, and bunch of greens.

When I use kale, I do two big handfuls of chopped/torn leaves (de-stemmed!), a banana, mango, pineapple, brown rice protein powder, ground flax, and enough water to get it all going. Sometimes I use frozen fruit and sometimes I just add ice.

You could start with one handful (which is about a cup, I think) of kale to get used to the taste. I think maybe blending the kale and banana with some water before throwing everything else in helps too. I have an Oster blender and it works fine! The only thing I hate that it won't blend is raspberry seeds.

It sounds odd, but I think collard greens have the most neutral flavor in smoothies. If you don't have a high powered blender, you probably want to strip the stems out. I especially like banana, frozen strawberry, flax seeds, rice milk, and collard green smoothies.

I like similar smoothies as Amy and Dearess, and like either kale or baby spinach, but I probably prefer spinach at this point. I had a smoothie with too much kale the other day, and it kind of turned me off.

I like to add the kale (leaves, no stems) and some almond milk and blend that first. I feel like blending it before adding the other stuff gets it better blended, and I'm not chewing the smoothie as much.

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

It sounds odd, but I think collard greens have the most neutral flavor in smoothies.

i also use collards, but mostly because for most of the year it's my easiest green to access. it doesn't take much to get a goodly amount of greens if you use collards, too.i used to make a good one with guavas and collards and a banana.

Green smoothies are amazing. loove them. I make ginormous smoothies, but my ingredients are.....half almond milk/half water, spinach, carrots, celery, zucchini, frozen banana, frozen strawberry, frozen blueberry, a lil agave, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. I can't even taste the veggies and I use quite a bit in my smoothies. They are gut busters for sure, and I do drink the whole pitcher. The energy and feeling of vitality they give are amazing though. I sometimes use flax seeds, but find the taste does make the smoothie a little less bearable.

Green smoothies are amazing. loove them. I make ginormous smoothies, but my ingredients are.....half almond milk/half water, spinach, carrots, celery, zucchini, frozen banana, frozen strawberry, frozen blueberry, a lil agave, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. I can't even taste the veggies and I use quite a bit in my smoothies. They are gut busters for sure, and I do drink the whole pitcher. The energy and feeling of vitality they give are amazing though. I sometimes use flax seeds, but find the taste does make the smoothie a little less bearable.

Do you juice the veggies, have a vitamix or just throw it all in a regular blender?

_________________I would eat Dr. Cow pocket cheese in a second. I would eat it if you hid it under your hat, or in your backpack, but not if it was in your shoe. That's where I draw the line. -allularpunk

I love kale in my green smoothies. I've found that it seems to blend best if you blend your kale and water/almond milk/etc first, so the kale can get good and blended, then add the rest of your ingredients and blend again. Once I started doing this, I wasn't having as much trouble with the greens being stringy/chewy and not blended. Also, I'll use the stems on the kale if they're small, but if they're bigger than say a pencil, I'll strip the leaves. I've also used both a regular blender and an immersion, and both work well as long as you have a cup deep enough for your immersion blender.

_________________"I would love to be president of the United States. It's been my dream ever since I discovered what power was." ~ RandiJM, age 11-ish

Green smoothies are amazing. loove them. I make ginormous smoothies, but my ingredients are.....half almond milk/half water, spinach, carrots, celery, zucchini, frozen banana, frozen strawberry, frozen blueberry, a lil agave, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. I can't even taste the veggies and I use quite a bit in my smoothies. They are gut busters for sure, and I do drink the whole pitcher. The energy and feeling of vitality they give are amazing though. I sometimes use flax seeds, but find the taste does make the smoothie a little less bearable.

Do you juice the veggies, have a vitamix or just throw it all in a regular blender?

I actually have a 30 dollar blender. What I do, is put in the milk/water, then dice the carrots, celery fairly small. Blend. Add spinach and zucchini. Blend. Add frozen bananas, blend. Etc. It's a little bit of a process, but it does get it all done!

I don't know if this makes a big impact on the amount of nutrients etc., but I freeze my greens and then blend them with some frozen and fresh fruit. I find that kale breaks up really easily this way and all you get is the fresh green taste.